


book of blues

by from



Series: three hundred words and other stories [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Colors, Hiatus, M/M, Painting, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 17:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5879365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/from/pseuds/from
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>inspired by <i>bluets</i>, <i>on being blue</i> & harry’s art supply shopping basket</p>
            </blockquote>





	book of blues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JustAHopelessRomantic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAHopelessRomantic/gifts).



Harry spent his 14-year vacation learning how not to paint. By year six, he painted only in blues. At first he catalogued them by feeling (hopeful blue, sad blue, angry blue), but it got complicated because there were plenty of shades to feelings too (like kind of hopeful, a bit sad, almost angry, maybe happy blue). When Harry started his book of blues, he chose tidier names and found they spoke the way simple lyrics do.

The book was a plain sketchbook, the pages crinkly along the edges because of how the paint strokes dried, and a full sixty-six pages.

Some of the blues were ordinary, a mix of two or three paints perfect for capturing backgrounds, shadows, skin tones. Those he used often. One was what he called _carrot blue_ , that bruised up colour at the top end of the veg where it got burned by the sun. There was also _Niall blue_ , almost black but with a tinge of silver like the starry sky at night above Keyhole Rock.

Others were less ordinary. One year he hit his eye when he broke too hard at an intersection and spent months seeing everything in his life sparkle. There was blue in those sparkles. He called it _bruised blue_ because there was already _traffic blue_ , the colour of the gloaming above LA’s snaking freeways.

On page seven, there’s _lovers blue_. It’s a watercolour, as thin as a sound speckled with air. 

There’s _eye blue_ , of course, the colour of Niall’s eyes. 

There’s _baby blue_ , the shade their baby’s face would turn those weeks he couldn’t burp and cried himself hoarse. 

The year before the reunion, Harry started the sixtieth page with _honour blue_ , the colour of a mark, right by the mermaid’s tail on his arm, that stayed and grew. 

~


End file.
